Governor Dem Newsom rides protests against immigration tight. But he did not hesitate to give up the Wake battles on the environment and gender when he caught that they didn’t “pay” anymore. And now points to the White House
It is a real hero what seems to be rising in the United States! To hear certain press, It seems that the governor of California, Gavin Newsom, is a stainless and fearless knight, ready to challenge that authoritarian bieco of Donald Trump“Reo” of having deployed the National Guard and Marines to cope with the disorders recently broke out in Los Angeles. Moreover, it is the same newsom that is carrying out this narrative. “Democracy is under attack in front of our eyes: the moment we feared has arrived,” said the person concerned, also accusing the White House of “abuse of power” and also causing her to try to prevent her from the deployment of the national guard.
In short, The governor, also helped by a part of the press, is presenting himself as a paladin of freedom against a Trump equivalent more or less to a sort of tyrannical Giorgio III. Yet, if we go a little beyond this simplistic sleeve, we will perhaps discover that, at the basis of the newsom line, there are different reasons from that of the “defense of democracy”. Of course, there are those who will think that we are mischievous. However, as one who meant one said, to think badly he gets a sin, but often we get it right. Oh yes, because, behind the activism for democracy, the governor ceases actually series presidential ambitions in view of the 2028 elections.
Ambitions that Newsom has been cultivating political chameleonism for some time: a chameleonism, incidentally, vented by a discreet dose of Machiavellism. Son of William Newsom (judge of the Court of Appeal of San Francisco, very close to the Getty dynasty), Gavin was once the recognized paladin of the left Woke of Californian brand and very appreciated by the high -high urban classes of the two coasts. In 2020, he signed a law that allowed California transgender prisoners to be placed in prisons who responded to their gender identity. Two years later, another that authorized the Medical Board of California to sanction doctors who spread information on Covid-19 deemed not aligned with “contemporary scientific consent”. It is also Historically a proponent of the electric car for environmental reasons. Yet suddenly, a change emerged. After Trump’s victory last November, Newsom began to distance himself from the Wake drift. In March, he said he was against the transgender competition in women’s sports and also abolished two green regulations to cope with the forest fire crisis. In May, he also proposed to freeze the state health program in favor of irregular immigrants. In short, Paladino Liberal has viusted significantly on the right.
A conversion to the way of Damascus? Not exactly. Let’s say that you were rather treated by A smart electoral calculation. What Newsom has presidential ambitions, has been known for years. However, during 2024, the governor skillfully played his cards. First he avoided taking the field against Joe Biden in the primary DEMs, thus avoiding the risk of burning. Then, when Biden himself retired, he let Kamala Harris to take his place in the electoral competition: a Machiavellian move, who had the precise intent (among other things very successful) to send the then politically American vice president to bang. The goal was, moreover, clear: Harris’ failure made the competition open for the 2028 primary. Primary to whom he seems to have all the intention of applying.
And thus we come to the heart of his strategy. Trump’s Nonmbrin victory has shown that the democratic base of Rust Belt, largely made up of voters belonging to Working Class, now looks with extreme irritation to the Wake ideology. Newsom then sniffed the change of current. And he adapted, as we have seen, throwing himself to the right on the question of transgender in sports and on that of irregular immigration. However, the “Law and Order” line recently promoted by Trump in Los Angeles was an too tempting political-media occasion for the governor, who in fact promptly remarried to the left. By proposing himself as the bulwark of democracy, Newsom aims to exploit a media coverage favorable to him. Which has two objectives: to position itself as the front runner in the primary DEM of 2028 and, at the same time, to accredit its leadership skills within a party, the democratic one, which has been in chaos for months now.
More than in Trump, Newsom therefore aims to politically cut his legs to his possible internal rivals: from the Governor of Pennsylvania Josh Shapiro (who has to deal with the internal competition of Senator John Sfretman) to his colleague of Michigan Gretchen Whitmer, passing through the deputy Alexandria OCasio-Cortez. And be careful: the opponents understood very well what game the governor of California is playing. Not surprisingly, Shapiro has made it known that “he will not be afraid to oppose” to Trump, if the latter should also send soldiers to his Pennsylvania. And it is not just an internal question to the dem. JD Vance, who will probably be Trump’s successor in the Republican Party himself in the next presidential elections, already considers newsom as his probable opponent. And in fact he accused California governor of having “encouraged” the disorders of Los Angeles. “You are the problem,” said the current American vice president of X, turning directly to Newsom.
However, it remains to be seen if the governor’s “Christian Democrat” strategy will prove to be successful. Already Biden had set up his last election campaign of 2024 on the “defense of democracy” and we saw that things did not go exactly the right direction.
Furthermore, despite being politically much more shrewd than Kamala Harris, the governor of California risks a lot with his ondivaga line: a line that, as in the case of Harris herself last year, could end up annoying or confusing the electorate. Without neglecting that, as already mentioned, the Dem of Rust Belt is not too benevolent towards the exponents of the left -wing liberal liberal astrusa (those who, so to speak, already Ronald Reagan defined the “San Francisco Democrats”. Newsom will therefore have to struggle a lot to captivate the sympathies of Working Class and to stem, from this point of view, the competition of Shapiro: a profile that, at least on paper, is more attractive for blue collars.
Finally be careful: Going beyond the only Electoral Perimeter Dem, it is all to be demonstrated that, at national level, the battle of Newsom against Trump on Los Angeles will prove to be really popular. One of the reasons that, last year, led to the victory of the current American president was in fact its hard line in terms of safety and contrast to illegal immigration.
In short, if it were to turn on a strategy marked only to anti -Trumpism, it is not said that Newsom will come electorally too far away. The road to 2028 is still long, it is true. However, the only hope, at least for the moment, is that it stops painting the Californian governor as a “paladin of freedom”. Newsom is not moved by a large ideal insight, but by electoral calculations. Legitimate, for heaven’s sake. But always electoral calculations it is.
